Black Water | Tokyo Ghoul

Chapter 7: A State of Insanity

Rin could only stare at the girl, shocked.

It took a while to gasp the single word under his breath, "What?"

Touka stared up at him, silent for a moment before her brows slightly knit up. For once, Touka was looking slightly apologetic to the young boy before her as she watched his face slowly turning pale with each second.

Rin felt his head slowly pull up, his mouth parted slightly as he let himself lean on the doorway and tried to breathe through the heaviness in his chest.

It was true that he and Rize had some bumps in their relationship and that recently he's considered actually killing her because of how annoying she was starting to become, but nevertheless. She was...his friend. The one person whom he trusted so much that he actually talked to her about his brother.

There wasn't much to talk about but still, Rin never dared to mutter even Jin's name to anyone except Rize who had a charm that simply cracked open the boy's outer shell like a hammer.

But now, Rize? Gone?

'No way.'

It seemed impossible to Rin. For Rize Kamishiro to be dead? What or who on earth would be so strong to be able to get her to kiss the dirt like that?

For a second, he felt the small thing in his chest twitch.

He swallowed, slightly uncomfortable with the sudden pain. Only then did he realize that Touka was actually calling him.

"Oi." Her face was close to his now, her brows knit together in slight worry as she crossed her arms. "Don't faint here. It's gonna be troublesome."

Rin blinked, snapping himself out of the shock and stared down at Touka. The slight glare worked its way to his face again after a moment.

"Faint?" Rin scoffed and moved away, carefully slipping past the female ghoul with a haughty smirk on his face. "As if."

Keeping his clothes neatly folded in his arms, the boy walked out of the café, ignoring the looks customers gave him as he strode out of the building, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Thoughts started churning in his brain, a tingling in the back of his neck making its way down his spine.

'How'd she die?' Rin thought, keeping his head held up high. Though he saw that he was getting close to his apartment, he really wasn't paying much attention since now, he was trying to piece together what was happening to the people in his life. First-his brother was killed and now Rize.

The facts that ached Rin's head surprised him. Both individuals were a part of the tier of stronger ghouls. Rin knew that he was a member of that tier but still. Back when Jin was still alive, Rin watched him decapitate a stronger ghoul with a simply flick of his hand. And Rize.

He's only seen her hunt once, but that one experience was more than enough to both alarm Rin and gain an attraction towards the cruel and gruesome Rize Kamishiro.

So when either of them were challenged to a fight, Rin would practically sprint away like a jack rabbit.

Should he look for the one who killed Rize? Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even able to ask Touka the full story.

The wind suddenly blew hard over Rin's face, a stray leaf caressing his lightly bruised cheek.

'But do you really have to?' a voice muttered in his head, 'Why would you care?' she was only a fling.

Rin blinked and his gaze grew slightly darker, a bored look in his eyes. He considered it true for a moment. He was never the type to take someone's death too hard. A dark brow perked up on his face as he loosened a breath though his nose, looking up at his apartment complex now and watching the dark grey clouds smoothing over the roof of his home.